Speed governor for railway, vehicles



Dec. 28, 1948. H. B. TAYLOR 2,457,748

SPEED GOVERNOR FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES Filed Feb. 22, 1944 2 she ts-sheet 1 FIG.1.

FIG.

J Monitor Gttorneg' Dec. 28, 1948. H. B. TAYLOR SPEED GOVERNOR FOR RAILWAY VEHICLES 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Feb. 22, 1944 Patented Dec. 28, 1948 SPEED GOVERNOR FOR RAILWAY.

VEHICLES Herbert B. Taylor, Rochester, Y., assignor to General Railway Signal Company, Rochester,

Application February 22, 1944, Serial No. 523,462

This invention relates in general to speed governors and has more specific reference to a governor of the jOLll'I1"1bOX type for use in connection with railway vehicles.

The present invention is an improvement in governors of the type disclosed in the Howe Patent No. 1,334,902. for Speed responsive device, granted March 23, 1920.

The improved governor, in accordance with the present invention, includes a casing clampable to a car journal box, within which is a hollow rotatable mem er carrying a speed responsive device, which device, through improved gear connecting means, operates a cam shaft for controlling contacts. The contacts may be used for various purposes, as for example, control means in train control systems of the speed governed type, such as disclosed, for example, in the Bushnell Patent No. 1,757,410 for Train control, granted May 6, 1930.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a governor of the referred to type which, while simple in construction, is very rugged and lo g lived and dependable in operation.

Another object of the present invention is to provide readily accessible, and easily operable, means for adjusting the governor for wheel wear and for variously sized wheels.

Another object of the present invention is to improve the operative connecting means between the speed responsive device and the contact controlling cam shaft.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a governor with a rotatable horizontal '.aft which is entirely free from end thrust.

Further objects, purposes and characteristic features of the present invention will appear as the description progresses, reference being made to the accompanying drawings showing, solely by way of example, and in no manner whatsoever in a limiting sense, one form which the invention ca assume. In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view, on line I-I of Fig. 2, viewed in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 2 is a front elevational view, with parts in section on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, viewed in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view with a cover removed.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary sectional view, on line 4-4 of Fig. 1, viewed in the direction of the arrows, and with overlying parts removed.

Fig, 5. is a fragmentary plan view, with parts removed and parts broken away, as viewed from 2 Claims. (01. 264-15) 2 line 5-5 or Fig. 1 and in the direction of the arrows.

Fig. 6 is a fragmentary front elevational view, with a cover removed.

Referring now to the drawings, the invention is shown in connection with a car axle I having a usual journal box 2. Clamping members 3 and 4 are bolted to the front of the journal box, as by bolts 5, and are formed to carry a main casing MC, having an outwardly projecting circular conical portion 6, resting in a double conical packing means I, carried by the clamping members. This packing I is made of elastic material, such as rubber or the like, so that the main casing MC is protected'against jar and shock, while at the same time it is firmly held on the journal box.

This main casing is open at the front and carries over this open end, a secondary casing SC, suitably secured in place. is open atthe front and at the top, and receives a front cover FC, and a top cover TC, suitably re- I horizontal hollow shaft II.

movably held in place.

Carried in the casings are two main bearings 9 and II), of the ball bearing type, for supporting a The bearing III is backed up by a packing gasket I0 Shaft I I at its inner end carries a connecting head I2, pinned as at I 3 to the shaft, and in turn has a slotted head which is pinned, as at I4, to a flat headed part of a connecting shaft I5. The slotted head is surrounded by a ferrule I2 The other end of shaft I5 is enlarged, and carries a plurality of splines I6, loosely received in grooves ll, of a driving plug I8, which is driven into a drilled opening I9 in one end of axle I. The splines I6, loosely received in their grooves, are rounded in a lengthwise direction, whereby to permit shaft I5 to freely slide and rock with respect to plug I8. The shaft I5 is backed up by a spring 20, whereby to take up any play.

Within the rotatable hollow shaft II is a compression helical spring 2I, which at its outer end butts against an adjustable threaded plug 22. The plug 22 extends beyond the outer end of shaft II and is slotted at intervals throughout its perimeter by diametrically opposed slots 23, whereby to permit a conical locking plug 24, threaded into the plug, to be screwed into position to spread the outer end of plug 22 against the inner face of the hollow shaft II, and thus lock the spring abutment plug 22 firmly in adjusted position. Access to plug 22, and its lock plug, is obtained by simply removing the front cover FC.

The abutment plug 22, as most clearly seen in Fig. 6, carries an index mark 28,- which can' be The secondary casing positioned opposite any one of a plurality of calibrations, 40", 39 39", etc. These calibrations refer to the diameter of the vehicle wheel to the axle of which hollow shaft I I is connected, and the adjusting means is to care for various wheel diameters, as will be more readily understood, as the description progresses.

The other end of spring 2| butts against a slidable crosshead CH, slidably received in an elongated through slot 3I, lying on the vertical diameter of hollow shaft II. This crosshead CH has upper and lower projecting ends 33 and 3%, through which pass pins 35iand 36. The pin 35, as shown in Fig. 4, connects its end of the crosshead to a bifurcated arm 31 which extends forwardly and connects to a ring 38 which encircles the hollow shaft and is slidable thereon. The pin 36 connects the lower end of the crosshead to a bifurcated arm M], which also extends forwardly and is connected to the encircling ring 38.

Extending forwardly from ring 38, and in a plane at substantially right angles to that of arms 31 and 40, and diametrically opposed to each other, are arms 42 and 43. These arms are connected to the inner race 44, of a ball bearing carried by the hollow shaft, which ball bearing has an outer race 45, carrying stub shafts 46 and 41 which are diametrically opposed to each other. Shafts t6 and 41 are respectively received in open ended slots in armsEQ and constituting the legs of a U-shaped frame, the cross bar of which is in the form of a hollow hub 52, received on an axle 53, suitably pivotally supported at its ends, as at 54, in the casing.

As best seen in Fig. 4, the arm 49 carries a toothed segment 55, having its teeth in mesh with'a spur gear 56, pinned as at 51 to the lower end of a vertically positioned cam shaft 58 which extends upwardly into the top cover TC, and is supported in suitable bearings 59 and 60.

The cam shaft 58 is threaded along a portion of its length, as at 6|, to receive one or more operating cams 62, each for operating a roller, as 63,-for moving a contact finger 64 to make or break contact with a contact point 65, with the point connected in a circuit by wire 66, and the finger connected in the circuit by a wire 61 It is thus seen that, if the cam shaft 58 be rocked in its bearings, the cam, or cams, as the case may be, will operate contact means to control circuits at various angular positions of the cam shaft.

The cams, only one of which, 62, has been shown in the drawing, are each provided with an upstanding hub 12, and is threaded onto the shaft on the thread 6i. Each cam is held in adjusted position on the shaft by means of a look not, as 13, and an interposed lock washer 'M, having its ends turned respectively upwardly and downwardly against flattened faces on the hub and the lock nut, thus to prevent the lock nut from becoming loose after it has once been locked in place.

As shown in Fig, 1, for example, the cam shaft, which is threaded at 6|, can be extended as much as desired so as to receive any desired number of separate cams, the showing in the drawing providing spaces for two cams in addition to the cam 62, as indicated by the intended portions I9 and 8D. As shown most clearly in Figs. 1 and 3, a tension spring 83 is anchored to a screw BI, and passes around the cam shaft and has its other end anchored to the shaft as at 82, to thereby tension the shaft in one direction and take up lid it t

any play or vibration or back lash which may occur between the sector 55 and the spur gear 56 and thus insure accuracy in operation.

As set forth above, it follows from the structure thus far disclosed, that movement of crosshead CH, in its slot, in a direction to compress spring 2 I, results in rocking the U-shaped frame and causing the sector to operate the spur gear and turn the cam shaft in one direction, and movement of the crosshead in the other direction turns the cam shaft in the other direction.

Movement of this crosshead CH, is produced by spring 2I and the operation of a centrifuge or speed responsive device mounted on, and turning with, hollow shaft II. This device is of the fly ball governor type and, as seen most clearly in Fig. 5, is constituted by stub shafts and 86, diametrically opposed to each other, and connected to the outer face of hollow shaft II. Carried by each shaft 85 and 86, is a pair of arms, each extending to opposite sides of the shaft. The shaft 85 carries the two arms Bl and 88, by means of suitable ball bearings, as 89, while shaft 86 carries the arms 90 and 9 I, also provided with suitable ball bearings. These arms are arranged in a scissor-like fashion about the hollow shaft, and present four sets of opposed arm ends, each end of each pair of which terminates in a weight portion extending toward the other, as, for example, the

weight portions 92 and 93, respectively on one of the pair of ends of the arms 87 and SI. These weighted end portions 92 and 93 are interconnected, as by a bolt 94, and on the bolt, and between the weighted portions, is a roller 95, carried by suitable ball bearings, as shown, and positioned to bear against'the inner face of the crosshead CH. Of the four rollers included, only the two nearer the journal box 2, bear against, and operate, the crosshead. It can be appreciated from the above description that spring 2|, which is housed in the hollow shaft, biases the crosshead against two of the governor arm rollers, as 95, to thereby tend to close the scissor arms until the rollers, as roller 95, and all the other rollers, as 96, 97 and 98, are pressed against the hollow shaft and rest in receiving grooves therein, as the groove 99 for the roller 95. This is the position that the governor weights and rollers assume under the influence of the helical spring, when the axle I is not turning.

Upon axle I being rotated, the hollow shaft rotates, and as the speed varies so does the centrifugal force acting on the weights, to thus cause them to move varying distances away from the shaft. This causes rollers 95 and 96 to slide the crosshead toward the outer end of the shaft, While compressing the spring, and thereby rock the cam shaft and control the circuits corresponding to the various cams. As a result, circuits are controlled in accordance with the speed of rotation of the axle, and, as referred to at the beginning of this specification, these circuits can be employed in the control of various apparatus, as in speed controlled train control systems.

While the positions of the various parts, when the axle is at rest, is determined by the spring 2I forcing the rollers against the hollow shaft, it can be seen that during assembly, and possibly at other times, when the governor must be partly or completely taken down, the sector 55 may get out of mesh with gear 56 or may tend to mesh in a different position from what it previously did. To readily ascertain the proper position of the sector and gear, an adjusting pin IIlIis received in the casing, and at its inner end bears against a lug I02 on the pivoted hub 52. This pin is adjusted to contact the lug when the various parts are in the positions properly assumed when the axle is stationary. It, therefore, facilitates inspection and assembly by determining the at-rest meshing position of sector 55 and spur gear 56.

It should be noted that the construction of this invention provides a horizontally positioned, rotatable hollow shaft, with the biasing spring protected by being safely housed therein. There is also provided a readily accessible, adjustable means, for adjusting the tension of the control spring in accordance with the diameter of the wheel which turns the axle to which the governor is connected, and by which it is driven. There is also provided a slidable crosshead, received in guiding slots in the hollow shaft, and actuating centrifugal weights so anchored that there is no end thrust whatsoever on the horizontal rotatable shaft. Should end thrust exist it can be appreciated that it would increase in magnitude as the speed of rotation of the hollow shaft increases, and thus the elimination of end thrust is of manifest advantage. Also, there is provided a. cam operating shaft which readily adapts itself to receive any desired number of cams and to have the cams adjustable in desired positions,

and then securely locked in place.

The above rather specific description of one form of the present invention, has been given solely by way of example, and is not intended, in any manner whatsover, in a limiting sense. It is to be understood that various modifications. adaptations and alterations may be applied, from time to time, to meet the requirements of practice, without in any manner departing from the spirit or scope of th s invention. except as it may be limited by the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In speed governors; in combination; a housing, a hollow rotatable slottedv shaft in the housing; means for rotating the shaft; a crosshead received in the slot and slidable therein lengthwise of the shaft; a centrifuge carried by, and rotatable with the shaft, and movable to assume different positions dependent upon its speed of rotation; elastic means biasing the crosshead in one direction; means operatively connecting the centrifuge to the crosshead so as to move the crosshead in the other direction; a cam shaft; a cam on the cam shaft; means operable by the cam; means connecting the crosshead to the cam shaft and including, a spur gear on the cam shaft, a pivoted frame, a toothed sector carried by the frame and in mesh with the gear, a ball bearing with its outer race pivoted to the frame and its inner race slidable on and rotatable with the slotted shaft. and an operative connection between the crosshead and said inner ball bearing race.

2. In a speed governor, a hollow driven shaft, said driven shaft having a longitudinal slot formed therein and said shaft having diametrically opposed stub shafts secured on oppositesides thereof, two centrifuge members pivoted on each of said stub shafts, each of said centrifuge memberscomprising an arm connecting two weighted ends, said arm having a hearing at a mid-position for pivoting that centrifuge member on its associated stub shaft, connecting means extending transverse to the axis of said driven shaft for connecting said centrifuge members in pairs, each of said pairs comprising a centrifuge member pivoted on each of said stub shafts, said connecting means carrying a ball bearing roller spaced between the centrifuge members of each pair, an integral crosshead extending through said slot in said driven shaft, said crosshead having cam surfaces near the respective ends thereof bearing against the respective rollers of different pairs of said centrifuge members, whereby said crosshead is actuated by said centrifuge members, a compression spring within said driven shaft biasing said crosshead against movement by said centrifuge members, a cam shaft, a cam on said cam shaft, means positioned by said cam, and means for rotating said cam shaft in accordance with movement of said crosshead along the axis of said driven shaft comprising, a spur gear on the cam shaft, a pivoted frame having a toothed sector in mesh with said spur .gear, a ball bearing movable along the axis of said driven shaft having its outer race operatively connected to said pivoted frame, and said ball bearing having its inner race operatively connected to said crosshead.

HERBERT B. TAYLOR.

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